Nuada walked towards the library, his only training ground in the whole bureau. As he entered, his eyes somehow wandered over to the desk that sat near the end of the library. He sighed when he saw Samantha with her head buried in her arms, sleeping on the desk.
Walking over to her, he looked down at her work in curiosity. He grabbed a paper from the desk that she was not lying on top of, to get a closer look at what she was doing. His eyes widened as he saw the translations of Elvish written on the paper.
Lowering the paper, he looked down at Samantha that was sleeping peacefully. He couldn't believe that a human knew his language. Setting the paper down, he peered under her head and through her hair the title of the book. He realized she was reading, "Gremlins, Goblins and Ogres." It was a fairly thick book and by the book marker, he could tell she was able to read at least a fourth of it.
Nuada then shook it off, going to do what he came to do; train. Walking down the stairs, he lengthened his spear, twirling it multiple times in his hand. Taking no hesitation in starting, Nuada sliced through the air, barely making a sound. Silent, yet deadly.
Samantha woke up, her neck stiff from staying in the same position for God knows how long. Lifting her head out of her arms, she stretched them high above her head.
"I see you are awake." she heard.
Samantha immediately dropped her arms, her head snapping in the direction of the voice. Her eyes came upon Nuada, who was standing in the middle of the library, holding the spear over his shoulder. His breathing was a bit uneven as perspiration had already settled onto his body.
"You know the Elvish language I can see," he said pointing with his spear at her work.
Samantha moved her hands away from the paper and looked down. He was referring to the translations she had done on the book she was sleeping on. Her eyes enlarged as she soon realized why she couldn't understand some of the words, as they were not in Gaelic, it rather being his language; what he called Elvish.
"Now tell me, how is it a human like you, who never knew about my kind until today, knows the Elvish language."
Samantha opened her mouth but quickly closed it, deciding against explaining about her traveling days. She heard him sigh and heard his almost silent footsteps come nearer. Looking up from the paper, she saw him right in front of her. Being the short person she was and him being tall, her face came in contact with his abs when she was sitting down. Blushing, Samantha diverted her eyes back to the pieces of paper.
"I can tell though that you do not fully understand it. As you left some words blank while others are wrong in meaning," he said pointing to an empty space in a sentence she had translated.
When Nuada didn't hear or see any movement from Samantha he sat down.
"If you wish, I can teach you how to read Elvish," he suggested, though silently wished he hadn't.
Samantha turned to look at Nuada with bright eyes. She smiled and nodded furiously, excited that she was going to be able to read another language, this one being an ancient language. Nuada nodded and set his spear down on the desk, grabbing the book. Opening the page to where she left off, Nuada crinkled his nose in disgust at the book.
"Ogres. What vile creatures," he muttered.
Samantha looked at him in confusion. The ogres she had come to learn about were only creatures that people found disturbing or frightening. No harm in them. Apparently, Nuada saw her expression and smirked.
"These ogres are different from the kind you know about. The ogres of my world eat humans, yet, once in a while, there are some that will only eat animals," he explained to her.
Samantha's eyes widened and Nuada continued,
"I heard that this is to be your first mission. A few ogres have decided to live in abandoned buildings around here and have started to feed on people that pass by their territory. You are supposed to come with us to help us get rid of them."
Fear flashed across her face and Nuada smirked, clearly enjoying how he was frightening the young woman. Closing the book, he set it back down on the desk.
"Don't worry though. With your skills, you may be able to kill them off before they eat you," he teased.
Samantha cringed as he said the word, kill. She did not wish to kill them, even if they were creatures that ate people. Unfortunately, she had agreed to work for the BPRD, and killing creatures that harmed people was part of the deal.
Nuada stared at Samantha and wondered why she had suddenly become quiet. He then realized that she probably did not like to harm things since her incident. Sighing, he stood up from his chair and walked over to her. He tapped her on her shoulder to get her attention.
"You don't like killing do you?" he asked.
"No," Samantha replied quietly
The simple 'no' that had escaped her lips was barely above a whisper. Nuada could barely hear it, and the movement of her lips was the only way he could confirm that she had indeed speak to him.
"Would you rather they kill you?" he asked her.
Samantha sighed, knowing that it was true. There were many people in the world that wouldn't give a second thought on what they were doing so why shouldn't mythical creatures do the same? If she were ever in a life or death situation, Samantha would have to kill, it being the only option besides letting herself be killed.
"I must say though, you have relatively sufficient fighting skills. They could be improved, but I am… willing to help you," Nuada said standing up.
Samantha snapped her head up at his assumption of her skills. She stood up and grabbed both her Sais, glaring slightly at him. She then used one of her Sais and poked him in the chest lightly, watching as an amused expression flashed across his face.
"Ah, you think you are better than me," Nuada said getting the point.
Nodding furiously, Nuada chuckled at her and walked back to his spear, grabbing it. Nuada faced the spear towards her, letting it lengthen in his hand. The spear moved towards her face, yet Samantha made no effort to move. As the spear stopped, the tip of it was barely touching her nose. Lifting her hand, she moved the spear away from her face with her Sai.
"Well, let's test that and see if you are. Though I seriously doubt it," he said confidently.
Samantha smiled at him; however, a thought appeared in her mind, making her smile falter. Nuada noticed this.
"What is wrong?" he asked.
Samantha stared down at her shadow, watching as it rose from the ground. She glanced at her replica and looked back at Nuada who shook his head.
"No powers, only skills."
Samantha sighed sadly and gave her shadow an apologetic look. Her shadow shrugged, swirling back into the ground, becoming her shadow once again.
"Now the rules are simple, first one to lose their weapon, or in your case, weapons; will be the loser. Simple enough?" he asked her.
Samantha nodded and Nuada smirked, muttering a 'good'. Without warning, Nuada turned his spear and swung it at Samantha. The flat side of the blade would have connected with her cheek if she had not ducked at the last second. Smiling, Samantha knew Nuada wasn't going to go easy on her, no matter what.
Samantha and Nuada had been fighting for almost an hour. Their bodies had gleamed with sweat, yet neither of them showed signs of tiring. However, Nuada had decided to dampen his skills somewhat when his spear almost caught her several times. Her stamina was impressive, even if her skills were not. That is, until the library doors opened, distracting Nuada just for a moment. Samantha beamed at her chance and didn't hesitate in taking it.
Dropping one of her Sais, she grabbed the handle of the spear, swiftly kicking it from underneath. Distracted, Nuada's grasp on the handle was loose, making her kick strong enough to send the handle flying out of his hand. She twirled the spear in her hand, making the blade face Nuada. She swung the blade for Nuada, stopping at the very last second, the blade hovering only millimeters away from his skin.
Nuada cursed at himself for letting a human unarm him. He felt the cool metal brush against his skin lightly, making him shudder. The blade soon disappeared and he watched as Samantha twirled the spear in her hand, making the handle face him, instead of the blade. Sighing, he grabbed the handle, reclaiming his weapon.
Looking towards the door, Nuada saw his sister standing there, looking quite shocked.
"Nuala," he said through gritted teeth.
"Brother, did Samantha - " she started but he cut her off.
"Yes, but do not tell anyone of this," he said.
"Of course not!" she said waving her hands in the air defensively.
"I'll leave you two, to well... continue," she said walking backwards, out of the library.
Nuada then turned his attention back to Samantha when he heard the library doors shut. She had a small smirk on her face and he glowered at her, giving her the same warning.
"You do not tell anyone else about this," he said, glaring fiercely at her.
She smiled at him and nodded once. Nuada though could still see a mischievous glint in her eyes. Glaring at her slightly, she turned her back to him. Nuada sighed, not truly understanding this girl.
Samantha could be at times, a friendly and outgoing person when she wanted to be. Yet sometimes, she could be shy and timid, wanting to hide herself from the world. Nuada couldn't understand why she couldn't be just one thing, and not two, making him confused. Besides that, something about her intrigued him. Whether it being her unusual eye color, her personality, or just the way she made him feel at some times.
Nuada shook his head, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind. He did not have the time to ponder about some human girl that had just joined the team. He just needed to think about ways of getting out of this hell hole.